animal rights

A Nelson man has 16 stitches to his leg after being bitten by a police dog released by its handler. 

 

Tasman police district commander Superintendent Richard Chambers says he is confident the right decisions were made and is referring the issues to Independent Police Conduct Authority.
It is the second case in the public spotlight after a member of the public has been attacked by a police dog.
Auckland businessman Hamish McCourtie has been through a three-year battle to hold police to account for a police dog attack in his own driveway, suffering severe injuries after he went to investigate a noise outside thinking it was a car crash.
Nelson man Kyle McArtney said he was busting to go to the toilet and running toward bushes by Trafalgar Park when a police dog attacked him at midnight on Sunday.
He said its handler had to choke the dog to get it off him because it did not respond to the handler's commands.
"I just think the dog and his handler should have to do a bit more training," he said. "If you are going to control a dog to attack, you have to be able to stop it attacking."
Chambers said police were responding to a report from a woman of an intruder in her home at Hathaway Court, and when a police dog was following a scent and a man was seen running, the handler released the dog.
A teenage girl has since been charged with burglary and unlawfully taking a vehicle and the police investigation is continuing.
McArtney has been in pain and finding it hard to walk on his injured leg following the police dog attack.
He said he was with friends in a car and needing to go to the toilet but public toilets were closed so they stopped in the car park area between Trafalgar Park and the rugby clubrooms.
The police dog ran up, without its handler, and attacked him, he said.
"I was trying to fend it off with my arm but it latched on to my leg. I remember lying on the ground, I was trying to hold its jaw open on my leg. It was chewing on my leg, right around it. I could feel it crunching on the bone.
"The handler was yelling at his dog but it kept chewing on my leg. He could not get his dog off for a minute, a minute and a half. Then I went into a bit of shock."
He said the handler had to choke his dog to get it off. He was then asked who he was and was told there had been a burglary from the flats by the Trailways hotel.
"I just wanted some water because I was bleeding quite heavily. They were not prepared to help me very much. They did call St John and he turned up in an SUV, wrapped me up, and advised me to see my GP in the morning